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By Jan Krull

A high productive coke making process in connection with stringent emission control has clearly become a demand of plant operators and stakeholders. Further to this, availability, quality and coal costs are key concerns for the iron and steel industry in its efforts to optimize raw material cost. Today, the optimization of raw material cost in integrated steel works has further gained priority. Coking coal reflects up to 20% of the cost of steel. In top charged batteries coal preparation and blending is one of the concerns to lower coal cost by maximizing the percentage of non-coking coals in the blend. Stamp charging technology is technologically and economically an effective solution in the process of pre-carbonisation. Paul Wurth’s jumbo top charged oven as well as proven stamp charging technology have recently set new benchmarks in Europe, India and Brazil in terms of productivity, stability and emission control.

Aug 1, 2018

By Dong Maolin

A great amount of high temperature off-gas, whose maximum temperature is up to 2100?, is generated during the smelting process of electric arc furnace (EAF). The dust content, which is mainly iron oxide, of the off-gas is high and worthy of industrial recovery. The heat carried by the high temperature off-gas with dust is about 11% of the total energy input of EAF, and some even is as high as 20%. The high-temperature off-gas not only takes away a lot of heat but also places a huge burden to de-dusting system of EAF. It not only reduces the iron oxide dust recovery ratio, but also causes serious pollution problems. With the development of the iron and steel industry, the proportion of molten iron for EAF gradually increases, and even more than 30% in some cases. The increase of molten iron causes increases in the amount of EAF off-gas and heat waste. As a result the problem of dust removal is worsening [1-2]. How to sufficiently recover the sensible heat of the high temperature off-gas, create conditions for efficient dust removal, thus reduce operating costs of dust removal system and the production costs is a problem which EAF steel making companies must pay attention to.

Oct 30, 2017

By Luiz Bruno de Oliveira Araujo, Luciano Morais Teixeira, Luiz Gustavo Pedrosa de Melo, Altair Lúcio de Souza

The off-line simulation of the metallurgical process in an industrial line brings several benefits such as: evaluation of the influence of the main parameters that affect the results of the process, comparison between different set ups, greater assertiveness in operational adjustments, process optimization and reduction tests for development of new products. With this objective, a software for offline simulation of the hot strip mill process of Gerdau Ouro Branco was developed based on the logic of calculations implemented in the online model. The software results in important process variables such as mill pass scale, load, torque, and power at each pass, temperature and the hot mean flow stress of the simulated material. During rolling mill process the strip presents different temperatures and time between passes for different points along the length, which directly influences the hot strength of the product and consequently in the calculated variables, thus the calculations executed by the software were divided to three points of the strip, head, body and tail bringing the individual results to each of these positions.

Oct 1, 2019

By Stefan Wahlund, Tom Adams, Mats Söder, Zhi Zhang

By applying high-end rolls with utmost performance and superior surface quality, hot strip mills can be further optimized. Operations in the mill have been also waiting for improved roll solutions that can minimize required roll changes which impact production efficiency. Limitations are usually due to the low performance and surface degradation of the rolls in the late finishing stands (F5 – F7). VICTURATM is the most recent developed grade for rolls utilized in the late finishing stand at Union Electric Åkers (UEÅ). These rolls have been tested and applied in mills all over the world. A significant improvement over the enhanced ICDP rolls has been observed. Hot strip mills are realizing improved operating efficiency and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through the transition of their entire roll inventories to these break-through products.

Oct 1, 2019

By Peter Grawenhof

Universal joint shafts and slipper spindles are commonly used in rolling mills to compensate the design- and process-related offset between the motors and work rolls. Although both types of shafts exhibit on the same kinematic principle, there are basic differences regarding the design concepts. These differences become noticeable on many levels and may become very distinct in terms of Life-Cycle-Costs (LCC). In this respect, a critical comparison between universal joint shafts and slipper spindles can be made.

Aug 16, 2017

By Edmar de Souza Silva, Antonio Augusto Gorni, Emanuelle Garcia Reis, Daniel Bojikian Matsubara

Controlled rolling followed by accelerated cooling, known worldwide as TMCP, aims to increase mechanical properties without toughness deterioration. The process principle is to promote the plate cooling with water jets along the range of the austenite transformation temperatures. The accelerated cooling process is only fully effective when controlled in an integrated manner, as it alone cannot ensure significant improvements in the final properties of steels. Plate surface quality depends on some parameters that must be controlled before the start of the plate accelerated cooling. Good flatness is essential to avoid irregular water accumulations during cooling. After the reheating process, the slab should have uniform temperature, uniform austenitic grain size and easily removable scale. The slab thermal and microstructural heterogeneities are inherited by the rolled plate and tend to increase further during the accelerated cooling. This results in flatness problems, high level of internal stresses and mechanical property variations. The descaling strategy is an extremely important factor and must be determined with great caution. It is important that scale thickness and distribution is uniform to ensure homogeneous cooling over the entire plate surface. Otherwise, there will be an uneven temperature distribution, which can cause serious problems of flatness, surface quality and mechanical properties.

Oct 1, 2019

By D. A. Aranda-Regino, C. Gómez-de-la-Garza, J. Ramírez-Cuellar, L. A. Leduc-Lezama

The Pickling Line Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) at Ternium’s Pesqueria plant with a 5 stands, 6 high configuration started in 2013. At the time of the start up the work roll specification and grinding practices were stablished following a low risk policy to be able to sustain any start-up associated accident. Once a stable operation has been achieved both these policies are being modified to improve productivity and reduce costs. The specified hardness of the rolls has been increased and efforts are being made to optimize the grinding according to the rolling campaign length and materials. The fatigue damage in work rolls, after rolling and its removal by grinding was followed by hardness measurements made at the end of the rolling campaign and after grinding. Softening of the rolls after rolling was found mainly in final stands to be related to the averaged stress experienced during the campaign, the original roll hardness was recovered after grinding. Hardness evolution was also followed after each grinding step finding that the total amount of grinding could be reduced. The grinding practice was modified accordingly for the first stands and the yield of work rolls in them has improved.

Oct 1, 2019

By Enrique Francisco Somolinos Garcia-Morales

In this paper we will discuss the benefits of a very innovative way of introducing MgO in the blast furnace operation through the sinter, using mini lumps of dunite. By changing the traditional way of using an MgO bearing material in fines form (particle smaller than 5 mm), most of the MgO inserted material behaves as inert during the sintering process, with the effect of having the following parameters (among others) improved: productivity at the sintering bed, permeability inside the blast furnace, energy consumption, stability of the operation.

Aug 1, 2018

By Wolfgang Kern

The implementation of the Gas Treatment Plant (GTP) for CSPECEM, Ceara-Brazil is a result of the closed partnership between Paul Wurth Italia S.p.A. and DMT, the German leading company in Coke Oven Gas Treatment Plants. In addition to technical issues reducing emissions, avoiding of waste and saving environment and energy were technical challenges during the engineering phase. Below mentioned three descriptions of technical solutions represents examples of a number other innovations based on DMT’s know-how and experience in the field of by-product plants. Generally the design of the complete GTP is based on the consideration of modern features and design upgrading, with the aim of a safe operation with stable conditions and a long-living cycle of the whole of the plant.

Aug 16, 2017

By Esteban Ruisanchez Rodriguez

In this paper we will discuss the process of the grain size customization of the EBT filler sand in relationship to the technical characteristics of the furnace and its tap hole. By customizing the grain size distribution, the glassy area formed on the top of the tap hole varies and supports differently the metallurgical pressure of the molten steel providing increased free opening speeds. Taylor made sand improves therefore the free opening rate, reduces the tap to tap time and increases the lifespan of the tap

Aug 16, 2017

By Breno Totti Maia

In these hard days for Brazil steel market, all steel shops want to achieve the same goal, work with: productivity, low costs and high performance. In this scenario the Slagless® technology (which is applied into BOF converter) was important to reach these targets. After use has been reduced the number of times of tip exchange in more than 04 times. Was reduced too, the time to remove lance skulls. Lance keeps clean during all his life with record number of the life 1255 .Blow keep stable due strong measure control at the nozzles and more improvements are planning.

Oct 30, 2017

By Javier Martinez Rubio

In this paper we will discuss the benefits of a very innovative way of introducing MgO in the blast furnace operation through the sinter, using mini lumps of dunite. By changing the traditional way of using an MgO bearing material in fines form (particle smaller than 5 mm), most of the MgO inserted material behaves as inert during the sintering process, with the effect of having the following parameters (among others) improved: productivity at the sintering bed, permeability inside the blast furnace, energy consumption, stability of the operation.

Aug 16, 2017

By Zou Zhongpping

Under the new normal state, blast furnace outputneeds to be adapted to the market demand, however the limitation in blast furnace output has significant impact on blast furnace operation and is prone to cause inactive furnace hearth and higher fuel ratio. To address such problems, some practices to maintain stable and smooth operation of blast furnace in case of output limitation are proposed based on data analysis philosophy, which allows the blast flow and hence the top pressure to be determined based on the hot metal output, and adequate kinetic energy of blast supply can be assured by adjusting the tuyeres. Matching between the oxygen enrichment and the pulverized coal injection is also proposed based on theoretical flametemperature, and burden distribution cycle calculation method is proposed, whichoffersnew approach for analyzing the change in burden distribution pattern.

Oct 30, 2017

By Patrícia Mundim Campos Faria

The process of particle size reduction by grinding is inherently inefficient and involves high capital and operating costs. In particular, ball milling is one of the important unit operations in the iron ore pelletizing process. The mill product, due to its physical properties, determines the efficiency of subsequent stages of classification, filtration and pelletizing, thus impacting the quality of iron ore pellets. The work demonstrates the application of the population balance model in the optimization of a full-scale ball mil circuit grinding pellet fines with the aim to evaluate the optimal solids concentration to improve iron ore pellet quality. Initially, detailed experimentation was carried out in a 25.4 cm diameter batch mill and a relationship for mill scale-up using a linear population balance model in wet grinding systems was established. The selection and breakage parameters and the specific selection functions were determined for pellet feed iron ore. It was possible to identify the non-normalizable nature of the breakage functions of the ore studied, which were modeled properly. Afterwards, as a result of incorporating the specific selection functions and breakage functions into the linear population balance model, it was possible to predict product size distributions in the pilot and plant scale mills (0.416 and 5.18 m diameter, respectively) from data obtained in the 25.4 cm diameter mill. Finally, with this scale-up procedure it was possible to appraise the plant scale optimization via laboratory scale grinding mill tests. The effects of changing percent solids were assessed in order to improve the industrial mill performance and the optimal value should be in the range from 76 to 80%.

Aug 1, 2018

By Guilherme Guidugli

The hot blast stoves are a regenerative heat exchange system, accounting for 10 to 20% of the total energy requirement in an integrated steel plant, responsible for the supply of about one-third of the blast furnace heat input and responsible for a constant flow of hot air to the blast furnace, according to the required production. Because of their important role in the hot metal production, a stable operation and an appropriate combustion control is necessary. This paper aims to present the results of an investigation and modifications performed as an operating multi-furnace plant, as well as the parameters considered to ensure thermal equilibrium, improving in the stoves heating cycle.

Aug 16, 2017

By Luke A. Balzan

Access to information is a key component for making improvements to any process. This is particularly true for all aspects of the iron mining and steelmaking process. The ability to make rapid control decisions can significantly influence process outcomes, including ensuring product specification, mining quality, transportation limits, upgrade factors, waste bypass and direct shipping, among many others. While traditional laboratory methods provide feedback for such processes, having access to analysis results in real-time can lead to positive reactive and predictive control decisions to be made rapidly, leading to significant improvements throughout the process. Scantech has been designing, manufacturing and supplying technological products to the minerals industry since 2002 to enable the availability of such realtime information to a mine or plant, with the benefits being enjoyed by a wide range of operators. This paper provides a summary of the available technologies used in the iron ore and steel industries, as well as providing a case study of their use at an Australian site, and a description of the potential benefits of a range of analysis equipment.

Aug 17, 2017

By Daniel Suarez

Over the last few years the mining industry has continuously been facing increases in capital and operating costs for new projects; plant expansions and also significant increases in the operating costs of existing plants. To counteract such trend the industry is seeking technologies such as the Vertimill as an option to lower the operating costs of grinding circuits. The benefits the Vertimill offers in terms of lower energy consumption and lower media consumption are well established and documented; such benefits can significantly improve the viability of a new project, plant expansions or upgrading grinding mills that need to be replaced. The paper briefly describes the operation of the Vertimill, recent regrind applications in processing Iron ores where the impact of lower energy and grinding media consumption is very significant because of the large tonnages involved, and also applications as a tertiary and secondary grinding stages of grinding circuits. The paper also highlight the expected role the Vertimill can play in secondary applications and the expected impact on the overall economics of the project.

Aug 1, 2018

By Andrea Pezza

The steel market is experiencing a difficult conjuncture: on the one hand steel producers minimize their investments while optimizing their over- production, on the other hand suppliers reduce their internal human resources and capacity in order to overcome the instability of the new era. A return to the steel production levels of the past is not expected in the short term. Research, development and plant concept optimization is one recipe to drive the future of the steel business. This article describes a new concept for a VOD plant developed as a result of thorough investigation and assessment of all possible solutions. A joint and tight cooperation with the final customer was necessary to reaching important results. This article consists of the contributions from the plant suppliers in terms of their experience and feedback, as well as the final user’s. The final customer, voestalpine Giesserei Linz GmbH, and the plant supplier, Primetals Technologies, are both worldwide players and highly focused on reaching best quality and innovation.

Oct 30, 2017

By Moisés Paulo Teixeira

The use of tailings for the synthesis of new materials is a worldwide concern today. This paper approaches the utilization of tailings of soapstone (steatite) in order to produce ceramics. The results show that the addition of soapstone in a ratio over 20% in the ceramic mass has enhanced the bending resistance of the ceramic samples when they were fired at temperatures of 900°C or 1000°C.

Oct 30, 2017

By Steven G. Jansto

Carbon content and continuous casting parameters affecting solidification behavior, such as super heat, mold level fluctuation, heat transfer, fine grain chill zone depth and other process solidification parameters directly influence the surface and internal quality of the steel strand. The carbon content, resultant fine grain chill zone depth, the equiaxed-columnar transition zone and the strain energy are the primary drivers that govern hot ductility behavior. These factors influence the propensity for crack formation during the unbending section in the continuous casting process. Elements such as microalloys exhibit secondary or tertiary root causes for crack formation and are not the primary crack formation root cause. This solidification research identifies that the traditional hot ductility as measured via the percent reduction in area (%RA) at elevated temperature grossly overstates the minimum ductility required to assure crack-free casting of microalloyed steels. The strain at the ultimate tensile strength exhibits a very high correlation coefficient with strain energy while an extremely low correlation coefficient is exhibited with %RA.

Oct 30, 2017